Hellboy Reboot Is Heading to Lionsgate?

1 year ago

It’s been less than two months since the new Hellboy reboot was announced, with Stranger Things star David Harbour taking over the title role and Neil Marshall directing. Now the project may have a studio home. A new report reveals that Lionsgate is in negotiations to distribute this latest entry in the franchise, and while a studio source has confirmed that negotiations are in fact under way, a deal hasn’t been closed at this time. This would be the third studio to take over the franchise in as many movies, but it could very well be the right fit for this material.

Splash Report broke the news on Hellboy finding a new home today, although it isn’t clear when this deal may be finalized. Many fans were excited when Hellboy creator Mike Mignola confirmed that this will in fact be an R-rated Hellboy reboot, with director Neil Marshall revealing that it will be like “taking the cuffs off,” although he isn’t going to force the movie to be rated R. Still, after both Hellboy and Hellboy: The Golden Army were crafted for PG-13 ratings, this could very well be the Hellboy movie fans have been waiting all along for.

While we’ll have to wait and see if Lionsgate will in fact distribute the movie, the studio made their mark in the early 2000s by distributing edgy R-rated fare like the Saw movies, Monsters Ball and Frailty, just to name a few. The first Hellboy movie was released theatrically in 2004 by Sony’s Revolution studios, where it earned just $59.6 million domestically and $99.3 million worldwide, from a $66 million budget. The 2008 follow-up was produced by Relativity Media and distributed by Universal Pictures, earning $75.9 million domestically and $160.3 million worldwide, from an $85 million budget. Fans had been clamoring for Hellboy 3 for years, with Ron Perlman and Guillermo del Toro returning, but that never took shape.

Despite spending years trying to get Hellboy 3 off the ground, it’s become clear that Ron Perlman and Guillermo del Toro both have no ill will towards the new project. A photo with Patton Oswalt bringing both David Harbour and Ron Perlman together for a New York City dinner went viral, with Ron Perlman wishing David Harbour good luck on the project, through social media. Guillermo del Toro revealed in an interview that the character truly belonged to Mike Mingola, and that he was fine with the comic book creator wanting to reboot the property, while stating that he felt that he was “lucky” just to get the first two movies made. As of now, though, there isn’t much we know about the story, but it seems to be on the fast track to production.

Back in May, a report surfaced that claimed the producers wanted to start shooting Hellboy by mid-September, which means it could very well hit theaters sometime in late 2018. That production schedule was never confirmed, although we do know that the script by Andrew Crosby, who created the TV series Eureka, is finished. The writer himself teased that this will be a “darker and more gruesome” version of Hellboy, although he wouldn’t divulge any specific details about the story. If production is in fact slated to begin this fall, perhaps we’ll find out more about Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen sooner rather than later. It’s also possible that Lionsgate may announce their distribution deal at Comic-Con in a few weeks, if they can get it finalized by then.